InstaRabbi

I cannot lie and say that this app hasn’t helped me tremendously in the last five years. I’m very grateful for all the rabbis who take their own time to answer these questions. However, there are a few issues that one should know before downloading the app. sometimes the Rabbis make very complicated situations seem very black-and-white. This is often in cases where leniency is needed and there are Gedolim that give those leniencies yet the rabbis on the app pretend they are totally nonexistence and anyone that relies on them is commiting a sin. Sometimes, If you don’t accept the Rabbi‘s first answer and start to ask questions back occasionally they will shut down the question chain making you unable to ask further questions, which has no place in Judaism, and antithetical to what ths app is supposed to be. The rabbis also all eithout exception fall under the category of yeshivish (lithuanian), and antizionist. Not to say there’s anything wrong with that, but they have no range of rebbeim and it is obviously apparent fast. No modern orthodox rebbeim, no dati leeumi rebbeim, no Chabad rebbeim(and they happen to be very anti chabad, but thats a different story) no Hassidic Rebbeim, no rebbeim that include kabbala in their answers. They also constantly invalidate and talk down on all the hashgafot i listed previously. Also, the sephardic rebbeim they have are very lithuanian, and often rule stricter than Hachach Ovadia ZTL (!!!!!!), and i have caught them on this. The lack of diversity in Hashgafa withing the Rebbeim is glaring very quickly. This also very well plays into their tendcy to rule unreasonably strict, and pretend leneient opinions from gedolei yisrael dont exist because they arent Yeshivish. Purely because it doesnt line up with their beleifs. That said if you’re aware of all these things going in it’s a great app to give you sources on certain issues, and it is very fun and sometimes helpful to scroll through others questions. I must add that Rabbi Nacson and Rabbi Cabessa, Rabbi Lalehzarian, are great. but at the end of the day, a jew who isnt fully observant should stay far away from this app, as it can easily push them away from a world of torah, make it look daunting and dreadful, and anyone using the app, even the fully religeous one should constantly know that there will never ever be a replacement for a personal rabbi that knows you. Even the apps Rabbanim will concur on that.

Absolutely incredible I learnt so much and the rabbis here are just amazing